The internet is full of fascinating things. There have been quite a fewblogs today that mentioned a project that the folks at Google Earth and the Prado Museum in Spain have undertaken. They have captured a handful of the Prado's masterpieces in unbelievable resolution. The digital images end up with a resolution of 14,000 megapixels, or more than 1,400 times the resolution of most point-and-shoot digital cameras. The end result is a photograph that can be zoomed in far beyond the level of detail that museum guards would allow you to see in person.

Check out this video of the actual process used to take these images:

However, this raises an interesting question for museums. As the internet grows, what is the role of museums and the content they publish? Resources like this from the Prado and Google are surely helpful to both art scholars as well as artists, allowing them to see details that previously had only been available in specialty publications or conservation studios. On the other hand, does this verge on replacing the museum/art experience, where viewing the works in person is critical to the experience of art.